Whatever happened to ecotowns?

摘要

With housing policy high on the political agenda in July 2007, the government's communities department (DCLG) launched the concept of 'ecotowns' in a Housing Green Paper. An accompanying prospectus sketched out what these were to be: new, stand-alone, environmentally exemplary settlements in England of between 5,000 and 20,000 dwellings, which encouraged and enabled residents to live within managed environmental limits. DCLG seemed eager to move quickly, with ambitions to build ten ecotowns by 2020. But four years on, progress has been patchy and building work has yet to begin on a single one. And while some schemes remain committed to the laudable, holistic vision set out in 2007, a two-tier system is emerging, with some proposals striving for little more than high building standards on already planned developments.